She's ready for player two.
Based on the post of MsCherylTerra, in 3 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at My First Time.
Player one is me, Ramona Roth. I’m nineteen, blue hair, pierce eyebrow, former president of the student council, virgin.
War is hell, they say, but I say they're wrong.
Hell is insanity, and insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Hell is false hopes and flagrant disappointment.
Hell is knowing that the squabbling of Ilyra, the princess from the far-off planet of Nianus, and Jostok, the snarky-but-pleasantly-ripped humanoid alien soldier from Quighnan, would attract the attention of Izzon's monstrous space beast.
It's knowing that the beast would destroy the vent your plucky band of misfits was crawling through.
It's knowing that you'd all tumble into the cavernous belly of the spaceship with only the last-second triggering of a force-field from your omni-cuff to prevent you from turning into gizzard soup on the space-grey floor.
I watched Jostok realize that the force field hadn't prevented the princess from being crushed beneath the weight of the metal that tumbled from above. I watched him separate her from the tangled pile of bodies and bionic limbs, cradling her barely conscious form against one beefy, armor-clad bicep.
I watched her brilliant violet eyes flutter open, and saw the little half-smile on her face as he called her by her name, and heard the weakness in her voice as she reminded him that it was Princess Ilyra to him. I heard Jostok chuckle wetly and assure her she was going to make it.
After all, she was the princess. This was not how princesses died.
Which was true, because she didn't die like that.
Izzon's beast hurled itself to the ground in front of us, its weight making the spaceship itself shudder violently. A beam of light shot forth from its gaping maw, wrenching Ilyra from Jostok's arms. He reached for her, but before his bionic arm was even fully extended, the beast had pulled her into the air, clutched her between its massive claws, and snapped her in half like she was a fucking Kit Kat bar.
So, she died like that instead.
There was a beat; a pause as horror dawned across the party. A splash of blood splattered on the floor followed by the delicate circlet Ilyra always wore.
"No," breathed Jostok.
A metallic cackle from above filled the room.
"So much for your princess," Izzon said as he descended on a floating platform.
He landed just in front of the beast. Two long strides brought him to the circlet, and he plucked it from the pool of blood before making a mockery of Ilyra's memory and placing the fragile band of metal on his horned forehead.
"You killed her," Jostok said, his voice wavering.
"Well, duh," Izzon said, chuckling. "What, you think this is your fairytale or something, Quighnan? You kill the horrible, evil, sad little man who was just trying to get back what was rightfully his? You think you save the world, you get the girl, you get the glory?"
His smile faded, and he straightened the circlet before reaching for his omni-cuff.
"Well, Quighnan, I have news for you. You failed. The world is mine, the girl is dead, and you; "
"Shut up, you piece of Cul excrement!" Jostok roared.
"Or what?" Izzon taunted.
"Or this," I muttered.
Surprise flashed across Izzon's face as Jostok smashed his omni-cuff, using the last of its power to create his trademark rocket launcher. Hefting it over his shoulder, he screamed as he fired it. Izzon's beast stepped forward, snatching its master from the ground seconds before the ball of certain death hit him, and it was time for me to take over.
The battle was hell. It was a place I'd been a million times before, and I let the world around me fade as I focused on Izzon and Izzon alone. His beast didn't like that, of course, but the beast wasn't my concern. There were others to fight the beast; only I could fight Izzon.
Sweat beaded on my forehead and dryness scratched at my eyes. I refused to look away, refused to be distracted for even a millisecond from my task. Izzon darted around the battlefield, firing laser after laser in my direction, but I knew how to dodge them. I knew how to use them against him; I knew how to lure the beast to just the right spot for Izzon to maim it himself.
And I knew what would happen next.
The world shook, a rumbling that vibrated through my bones. Izzon's platform shot up, and I tracked it, ignoring the shouts and cries of the battle raging around me. High above, I saw the flash of light, and I hurled myself out of the way moments before a ball of plasma crashed down and punched a hole through the entire ship.
A rush of air sucked through the floor, and I clung to the strategically placed pole for dear life, still refusing to take my eyes off Izzon's platform. I waited, watched, my heart racing as he descended, and descended, and;
"Now," I said through clenched teeth, and I jumped.
Wind and suction twirled around me as I fought against the force with everything in me. It was a Hail Mary, a last-ditch effort, a moment of pure insanity as I mashed at the omni-cuff wildly. I mashed, and mashed, and mashed, and;
I made it.
I got to the platform.
"Oh my fuck," I breathed. "Oh fuck, oh frak, oh; fruck."
I finally did it.
Izzon stood before me, his wretched face twisted in anger. I pointed my weapon at him, just as I dreamed I would a thousand times before, and without so much as a second thought, I began to fire. One shot hit and his body jostled; another and red splattered around me; one more and;
And all went dark.
Sudden silence replaced the sounds of battle as blackness overtook me. For half a moment, I thought I had died, like for-real died. Then, my eyes adjusted, and across from me I saw the form of a woman with pale skin, wide eyes, and bright blue hair in the depths of a black mirror.
"No," I whispered.
The woman mimicked me.
"No," I said again, a low groan as realization dawned on me.
The woman's face crumpled. A bolt of lightning flashed through the basement window, and as thunder roared, I screamed.
"You've got to be frucking kidding me!" I shrieked, and I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I burst into tears.
"Ramona!" my mom shouted distantly.
I ignored her cry; tears were streaming down my cheeks as frantic footsteps thudded on the stairs. Despondently, I slid off the couch and crumpled to the floor, clutching my controller to my chest as I sobbed.
"Ramona!" Mom gasped again, the faint glow of her cell phone flashlight spilling across the basement. "Are you hurt? Ramona, talk to me, w-what happened, are you; "
"The power," I whimpered as she reached me and hesitantly touched my shoulder. "The power went out, and I was so close."
"Close to; what?"
"Beating Izzon," I sniffed.
Silent tension filled the basement.
"In a game," she said flatly.
"Well, yeah, but; "
"You screamed bloody murder in the middle of a huge thunderstorm because the power went out during a game."
It was no use trying to explain to her that I'd been stuck on the boss fight in The Circlet of Nianus for days. I stared sullenly across the basement at the darkened TV as Mom launched into another one of her ranting lectures that had become routine since I'd returned home for the summer after my first year of university.
"This is not proper behavior for a nineteen-year-old woman," she said, probably. I would've had to have been listening to know for sure, which I wasn't, but all her lectures were pretty much the same. "Christ, Ramona, it's like I don't even know who you are anymore. What happened to the sweet girl who left for university last August?"
Then, if that lecture was anything like the other ones; which it likely was, but I still wasn't listening; she would have started tearing up.
"I don't know what I did to deserve you acting like this, Ramona," she probably said in a watery voice. "What happened to my goody-two-shoes straight-laced brown-noser who would never dream of putting a toe out of line and who I, as the head of the Minwack Falls Homeowners Association, could truly be proud of since she was as cookie-cutter and put-together as the yards and fences I work so hard to keep in line at all times?"
Well, she probably didn't say that last part. At least, not out loud. But the implication was there. When I tuned back in to the conversation, she was shaking her head as she looked dramatically in the other direction.
"Honestly, Ramona, maybe we made a mistake," she was saying, for real that time. "Sending you to that school; I worried that you weren't ready and now; "
"I was perfectly ready to go to university," I said dully. "And I'm an adult, so you didn't send me anywhere. I chose to go. And my name is Ramona."
"Adults don't throw tantrums because of a silly game."
"It's not silly," I said through gritted teeth. "This is what I want to do with my life."
"Play games."
"Make games."
"Hmm," she said. "Be that as it may, I highly doubt you'll find a summer job making games. I charged the laptop battery up earlier today, so if the power stays out, we can still work on your resume tonight."
I sighed. "I have a resume. I already asked if they were hiring at The Sword and Dice and they said they'd get back to me."
"I doubt the comic book store is hiring," she said, unimpressed, before she started towards the stairs. "I'm surprised Jordan Cooper's managed to keep it open as long as he has. I'll go down to The Enchanted Florist tomorrow and speak with Owen. That girl he has working there was incredibly rude to me the other day and refused to call him so I could make a complaint about her."
"Okay, Karen," I muttered under my breath.
Mom turned. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
She clearly didn't believe me and shot a very Karen-esque look in my direction. "Well, if he's willing to hire her, I bet he's one of the few people in town who would be willing to overlook your new; style and possibly offer you a job."
And there it was; yet another dig at my hair, and my new eyebrow piercing, and the fact that I wasn't dressed like her President of the Student Council Princess anymore.
I wish I could say it had been a gradual transformation, that I hadn't been the stereotypical example of the good-girl going wild as soon as she was on her own for the first time. However, years of living with Liz Roth, head of the Minwack Falls Homeowners Association, vice-president of the Minwack Falls High School Parent-Teacher Association, and volunteer board member for the Minwack Falls Good Neighbor Society, had instilled an almost-detrimental instinct to be honest in me.
I was absolutely the model of a rebellious girl experiencing life away from an overbearing mother and semi-absent father.
I'd left for university as a geeky girl with suitcases full of modest blouses and nice-but-not-too-tight jeans. At the end of the semester, I returned home with suitcases full of pop culture t-shirts, dark jeans that were ripped in all the right places, and Chuck Taylors that I'd kept on my feet day in and day out so I could get that worn-in look as fast as possible. I was still geeky and still a girl, but now that girl had bright blue hair, an eyebrow ring, and an exasperatedly cynical attitude.
I loved who I had become. I loved being Ramona, the girl with wild hair and full of laughter. I loved geeking out with my friends over video games and sci-fi movies and superheroes. I loved being able to show people that girl instead of the girl I had to be under my mother's roof.
Back home, though, that girl wasn't welcome. That girl was an embarrassment to the head of the H O A. Worse, I was in for another three full months of putting up with my mom's pressure to dye my hair back to a respectable color and stop wearing studded belts and ripped jeans.
"Teach you that your choices have consequences," Mom was saying, and I'd been so distracted I hadn't even bothered imagining what she might have said. "If The Enchanted Florist won't hire you, you'll need to get your hair fixed."
"My hair isn't broken."
"I'm not letting you sit down here playing video games all summer. You need to get a job."
"Trust me, I'd like nothing more," I said. "I could use the break."
Before Mom could respond; and trust me, her inner Karen was desperate to give me a piece of its mind; we were interrupted by the sound of the door opening above us. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Your father's home," she said unnecessarily. "Finish tidying up here and come set the table."
I waited until she had started back up the basement stairs to let out the breath I'd been holding, leaning miserably against the couch as the darkness enveloped me again.
It was going to be a long frucking summer.
Summer Expectations.
I was saved from having to work on my resume with my mom peering over my shoulder by her innate need to be involved in every disaster.
Dinner was blissfully quiet. Dad didn't say much, as per usual, and Mom's constant chatter manifested as mumbled frustrations while she scrolled through the town Facebook page on her phone, the mushy broccoli and dry chicken on her plate abandoned as she took control of the situation via social media.
As quickly as I could, I shoveled bite after bite of mediocre, overcooked blandness into my mouth. Like most of my classmates in first year, I'd gained the ubiquitous Freshman Fifteen, but I hadn't minded in the slightest. I'd been relatively thin most of my life, and putting on some weight had finally made me look less like a twelve-year-old boy and more like an actual, honest-to-God woman.
Unfortunately, a full summer of my mom's cooking meant that I'd probably slim down to nothingness again unless I started stopping by the Hokey Pokey Ice Cream Parlor twice a day. Which wasn't a terrible idea, actually; their ice cream was all homemade and it was phenomenal.
Except that would take money, and while I was rich in Rupees and Bells and Caps, the owners of the Hokey Pokey only accepted boring old dollars.
Actually, maybe the Hokey Pokey was hiring. My blue hair would be considered whimsical and fun, though I might have to take out my eyebrow piercing or at least cover it. Still, I'd have an excuse to be out of the house and away from my mom, plus I'd be able to eat all the ice cream I wanted.
I wasn't about to admit that my mom had been right about working on my resume, though, so instead of doing something productive, I stole away to my bedroom to play video games.
Not The Circlet of Nianus, obviously. My PlayStation wasn't so good at working without the whole "power" thing. With the whole power out, my options were limited to; well, my Nintendo Switch.
It was fully charged, thankfully, and I hoped by the time the battery was drained, the power would be back. I'd started a new play through of Breath of the Wild on the drive back from university since my mom had insisted on coming up to campus to "help" me pack, then on driving my car back to Minwack Falls. I obliged, but only because I probably would have driven into oncoming traffic to get away from her incessant sniffling about my horrible hair color and insistence that my piercing would leave a hideous scar across my face, rendering me entirely unhireable.
It ended up being a good thing, though. She had pulled over for a break and I'd opened my glove box to hide my Switch while I used the grungy gas station bathroom. Mom wasn't looking, thankfully, because I forgot there was a sample-sized bottle of lube, a bunch of pamphlets about birth control and STDs, and two handfuls of the free condoms they gave out at the university clinic. Knowing my luck, if I'd been driving, Mom would have decided to go snooping through the glove box, and then I would have for sure had to drive into oncoming traffic to avoid that uncomfortable lecture.
And, of course, it wouldn't matter if I told her that I hadn't actually used any of the birth control or condoms or lube. She wouldn't believe for a second that I had all that stuff in my car and was still a virgin, even though it was true. Despite my desire to rebel, the internalization of my mom's lectures about abstinence and not being "that" kind of girl had really fucked with me.
I'd done my best to get past that, but the problem with being the wild and free type of girl with colorful hair and an eyebrow piercing is that apparently, there were a lot of guys who thought I existed solely to teach them about life, the universe, and everything. Specifically, they seemed to think that the answer lay in my vagina.
Since I was fairly certain that nothing in my vagina added up to forty-two and would therefore disappoint those wannabe hitchhikers, I'd shied away from men in general while at university. Aside from a couple of somewhat regrettable make out sessions at parties and an unremarkable handjob, after which the guy had fumbled around unimpressively in my panties until I got bored and went back to my dorm to play Red Dead Redemption, I hadn't really had a chance to experience the "sexual liberation" side of things.
I mean, I wanted to. I wasn't about to wait until marriage. Hell, I didn't even know if I wanted to get married. I just wanted my first time to be with someone who liked me as more than a concept.
That was an issue for another time, though. If I couldn't find a guy I was willing to lose my virginity to at the university, the chances of there being someone in Minwack Falls were practically non-existent.
In no time at all, I was immersed in the kingdom of Hyrule. I'd started this play through in Gerudo Town just for the hell of it, and had already released the Divine Beast Vah Naboris, which was too bad; given the storm, playing the lightning-themed part of the game would have been appropriate. Instead, I decided to head to Zora's Domain, which I guess was probably even more appropriate, given the rain and all.
It's not like there was any other strategy for me to follow. I mean, I started the play through in Gerudo Town.
In any case, it didn't matter. I found Prince Sidon at the Inogo Bridge and started my long trek towards Zora's Domain, battling Ganon's monsters along the way and picking up all the loot I could carry.
Falling into the world of a video game was one of my favorite things. I loved losing myself to the story, the characters, the challenge; for a while, it didn't matter if I was quiet-and-geeky Ramona or wild-and-geeky Ramona. Ramona didn't exist in Hyrule; in Hyrule, I was Link, and instead of battling my mother's constant disappointment, I was battling Lizalfos which, despite trying to murder me with shock arrows, were slightly more compassionate than she was.
That thought made me picture my mom as a Lizalfos, which was far more hilarious than it had any right to be, and I was fighting back a smile as I threw bombs at a hoard of them when my bedroom door flew open without so much as a warning knock.
"It's going to be all night," Mom said.
I paused the game and frowned as I looked up. "What?"
She looked at me incredulously. "The power outage, Ramona. It's not going to be back until tomorrow morning."
"Oh."
"Even though the storm has stopped," she continued.
I glanced at the window, realizing that the rain had indeed stopped falling. "Oh."
"Did you even notice?"
"Um, yeah," I said unconvincingly. "Obviously."
"Hmm," she said, completely unconvinced by my unconvincing tone. "Well, once your GameBoy battery dies; "
"It's a Switch."
Mom gave me a look. "Fine. Once your GameBoy switch dies, you can come downstairs and we'll work on your resume so you can go out and find a job tomorrow when the power's back on."
Damn it.
She left my room and I checked the battery, then groaned. I'd apparently been in Hyrule for longer than I'd thought, and my Switch was far closer to dead than it was to alive. Frustrated, I saved my progress, then chewed on a fingernail as I thought.
No PlayStation, no Switch; what the hell was I supposed to do for the rest of the night? Play fucking Candy Crush until my phone died, too? And the last thing I wanted was my mom "helping" with my resume. If she did, I might get hired at a place she'd approve of.
I mean, I guess I could have red a book or something, but luckily, I chose to glance out the window melodramatically. A car was driving down the rain-slickened street, and after a long moment of staring at its tail lights reflecting off the asphalt, a lightbulb went off.
Well, a metaphorical lightbulb. The other lightbulbs were already off.
Grinning, I grabbed my Switch.
The Raid.
"And what are you doing with all this?" Mom asked as I raided the pantry for a bag of chips and a half-eaten package of Oreos.
"I'm going to the car so I can charge my Switch."
She looked annoyed. "That's going to drain your car battery."
"I'll make sure I let it run for a bit."
I flung the refrigerator door open and grabbed two cans of Coke. Before she could scold me for letting all the cold air out, I slammed it shut and bounded towards the front door.
Her lack of admiration for my plan didn't stop me, but it did give me the idea to pull my car off the driveway and onto the street so I couldn't see her judging me from inside the living room. There, I cracked the front windows, turned the car to accessory mode, and plugged the charger for my Switch into the cigarette lighter before climbing into the back. I stretched along the seat, the bag of chips tucked in the wheel well beside me, and popped one can of Coke open before grinning at my cozy little setup.
I was a genius.
I mean, seriously. I even thought of setting a reminder on my phone for an hour later so I could run the car for a bit to make sure the battery didn't die.
A frucking genius.
Before you could say "Calamity Ganon," I was back in Hyrule. The backseat of my car was arguably less comfortable than my bed and the cracked windows didn't do much to help with the heaviness of the air, but I couldn't have been happier. Hyrule was a place where I had one simple job: save the world, get the girl.
Or, in this case, save the world, free the princess. You know, since Link and Zelda don't; well, not usually, anyway. Like, they were a romantic couple in Skyward Sword for sure, but with how reincarnation and all that works in the games, Zelda's hardly ever the actual love interest. I mean, in Breath of the Wild, they talk about how Link and Mipha were;
You know what, it doesn't really matter. The point is, in video games, my objectives were clear and simple, and saving the world was far less stressful than putting up with my mom.
When my phone blared out a reminder to start my car an hour later, it jolted me out of Hyrule and back into reality, where the sun had set and the usually unremarkable glow of streetlights was, of course, not present.
Instead of bothering to get out of the backseat and start my car properly, I made the, in my opinion, more efficient and slightly lazier decision to carefully tuck my Switch into the pocket behind the passenger's seat and get to my knees. Awkwardly, I wriggled between the driver and passenger seats, resting against the center console as I splayed across the car so I could turn the key in the ignition.
It started, which was good, since it meant my mom wouldn't be able to yell at me for killing my car battery. Air started blowing from the vents, which was even better, since I hadn't realized how warm it had actually gotten in the car.
What was less good was the fact that I apparently was not entirely used to the new swerves and curves that made up my body and that I also apparently needed to do some work on my spatial awareness.
Each time I tried to move, something tugged on my jeans, and I wasn't about to risk ripping my stylishly ripped jeans if I didn't have to. The problem was that my hips were wedged between the seats, so I couldn't pull myself forward enough to loosen whatever it was I was stuck on. As best I could tell, I had two options. Either I could somehow contort my shoulder and twist my arm back to my left hip and hope I could unhook myself, or I could unbutton my jeans and try to crawl forward, leaving my pants behind.
I twisted my mouth to the side, considered taking my pants off, and then quickly decided against it. Knowing my luck, that would be the moment my mom decided to come outside to check up on me, and she probably wouldn't even be the slightest bit impressed that I'd remembered to start the car so I didn't drain the battery.
Instead, I reached forward and steadied myself against the steering wheel with one hand while I tried to work the other behind me. It was a bit of a balancing act, but I managed to get my arm between my body and the driver's seat. Carefully, I patted around my waistband, trying to figure out where I was caught.
"Ramona?"
I jumped at the sound of a deep voice floating through my window and pitched forward. Unfortunately, both my hands were otherwise occupied, and I let out a second startled yelp as my head bashed the horn and a surprising honk echoed through the quiet night.
"Oh, shit!" said the voice. "Are you okay?"
"Just peachy," I said sarcastically, wincing as I pushed myself away from the horn. "This is all going according to plan."
"What was the, uh, goal of this plan?"
"None of your business, that's; "
I didn't finish as I twisted towards the voice. Peering in the driver's side window was Ashton Halliday, of all people. In the dim twilight, I could just make out the expression of poorly hidden amusement mixed with concern on his face.
That face was slightly different than the last time I'd seen him. It might have been somewhat dark out, but I could still make out the warmth of his eyes and the hint of that easy, melting smile. The boyish roundness of his face had faded into something more structured, more mature, more; well.
Something even more gorgeous than the last time I'd seen him.
If it wasn't for the fact that everyone knew everyone in Minwack Falls, I would have said that Ashton was the kind of guy who wouldn't have even known I existed. He was a hockey player who ran around town with the kind of kids my mom forbade me from hanging out with; also known as the cool kids. While I was at home studying for science tests and working on extra-credit projects for optional extracurriculars to bolster the resume my mom insisted I needed, Ashton was skateboarding down Main Street with his friends. While I was hanging out with my friends at The Sword and Dice, Ashton was out at the end of Drum Farm Lane, making out with girls in the back of his dad's Honda. I was the nerdy girl who enjoyed role-playing games when she wasn't too busy running for student council or planning a bake sale. He went to parties where people drank alcohol stolen from their parents' liquor cabinets and got sent to detention for screwing around during class.
He did know I existed, though, and we'd even been friends of a sort, once upon a time. His family lived across the street from mine and we were the same age, so naturally there had been plenty of summer days having water fights and racing our bikes on the quiet streets of Minwack Falls.
That all changed, though. Suddenly, friendship isn't as simple as being around the same age and in close proximity to one another. One day, friendship is just drawing pictures together in chalk on the sidewalk. The next, it's getting ready for his birthday party only to have your mom gently break the news that you weren't actually invited, and while all your friends are out playing laser tag and eating cake, you're going to be staying home to work on your science fair project.
I didn't hold it against him. Well, not anymore. At the time, I was devastated, of course. But we had been at that age where kids grow apart and start becoming different people, and even though it was heartbreaking back then, I was an adult now. I was over it.
Sort of.
Still, all that didn't stop me from thinking he was; there wasn't even a word. It was a sound. Like a very soft, mumbled, desperately needy "ugh" sound.
Luckily, I did not actually make that sound. Instead, I just stared at Ashton like a distracted moron as he tried not to laugh.
"Do you want a hand?" he finally asked.
"I've got two of them, thanks," I muttered as I tried to unhook myself unsuccessfully.
He couldn't hold his laughter in that time and moved away from the window. "Let me help you."
"What?"
The back door of my car opened and there was a sudden rush of cool air. "I said, let me help you."
"Oh, no you don't," I said before I could stop myself. "I've seen enough bad pornos to know where this is going."
"An understandable concern," Ashton said, so casually that I almost didn't turn beet-red as I realized I'd just told him I watched porn. "But I'm not your step-brother, so you've got nothing to worry about."
"What are you doing, step-friend," I said flatly.
"You don't trust me?"
"I barely know you."
"That's very true." He thought for a moment. "What if I talk you through what I'm doing the whole time and promise you can run me over with your car if I do anything inappropriate?"
I laughed unexpectedly. "Um; "
"Or, I mean, I can leave you here and like, go get your mom or something."
"Eew," I said. "No. Just; okay. Yes, I need help. Please."
He climbed in the backseat and turned the dome light on.
"Okay," he said after a moment. "I'm not an engineer yet, but it seems to me the problem is that you're stuck."
"Wow. Your powers of observation are incredible."
"I know. It's one of my many talents," he said. "It looks like the easiest way to get you unstuck is probably to unhook this ice scraper from your belt loop."
"Oh, that's what that is!" I said.
"Yes, the loops are there to hold your belt in place." He chuckled at his own joke as I groaned. "Okay, in all seriousness. I'm gonna untangle it."
Despite his warning, the feel of his hands nudging between me and the seat surprised me. It was probably a good thing, since it made me jump a bit and that little twitch hopefully covered the involuntary shiver that ran through me as Ashton's fingers moved against my hips. I bit my lip as his hand accidentally brushed against the exposed skin just above my waistband, the closeness of his body both unfamiliar and enticing.
"There," he said after a moment, and I felt the tension on my jeans release at the same time the tension in my body did. "It's unhooked."
He steadied me as I shimmied slowly out from between the seats. The redness on my face hadn't quite faded by the time he guided me onto the backseat. I brushed my hair off my face, subtly pressing my fingers to my face in the hopes that they were cool enough to soothe my flushed cheeks, but my hands were as warm as the rest of me.
"Thanks," I said shakily.
"Anytime," he replied. "I'm glad it was you, to be honest."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I was fairly sure this was your car," he said. "But I was a little surprised to see a blue-haired woman stuck between her seats when I expected to see the girl who grew up across the street from me."
"Sorry for the confusion."
"Don't be. You look great, Ramona." He grinned as he caught my eye. "Love the piercing, too."
Any of the redness that had faded from my cheeks came rushing back as my stomach fluttered. Mentally, I kicked myself for letting the compliment give me that weightless, fuzzy feeling.
"What were you doing creeping up on me, anyway?" I asked to distract myself.
It was Ashton's turn to chuckle awkwardly.
"Okay, well, I promise it's not as creepy as it's going to sound," he started.
I raised both eyebrows at him and he grimaced.
"I swear! I was just sitting in my room." He gestured towards his house. "Bored out of my fucking mind. Power's out, my parents are away for the weekend, and none of my friends are back in town. Then I happened to look outside and see this weird glowing light on the street. It took me a sec but I realized it was someone sitting in their car on their phone or something."
"Ah," I said.
"So I was like, well that's super smart," he continued. "But I don't have a car and my parents took theirs, of course, so I'm stranded here. So as I'm squinting out the window I thought, hey, I think that's Ramona's car, and maybe she'll possibly; "
"; let you use my precious car battery to charge your phone?" I finished.
"Ah, not quite. My phone's battery is pretty much full." A flash of embarrassment crossed his face and he dug into the pocket of the hoodie he was wearing. "Don't laugh, but; "
Oh, but I laughed.
"I know it's geeky," he said, then shook his head. "Forget it, I; "
"I'm not laughing at you," I said, giggling as I reached for the pocket on the back of the passenger seat. "You just surprised me. I didn't think you played."
He burst out laughing as I revealed my still-plugged-in Switch, tilting his own Switch at me.
"What are you playing?" he asked.
"Breath of the Wild. You?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Uh; Pokemon."
I pressed my lips together in an attempt not to lose it and he sighed but smiled good-naturedly.
"If I let you say it, will you let me charge my Switch?"
"Deal of the century." I yanked the charging cable out of my Switch and passed it to him. "Did you catch 'em all, Ash?"
He plugged his Switch in as I dissolved into giggles.
"I might not have caught them all, but I've definitely heard 'em all," he said. "That's what happens when you're the token gamer on the hockey team."
"Really? You?" I asked, shocked.
"Why's that so surprising?"
I shrugged. "I didn't picture you being a gamer, and if you were, I figured you'd be more into like Call of Duty or Halo or something. Or like, any of the EA Sports titles."
"I mean, sometimes." He shrugged. "I'm more into RPGs and stuff, to be honest. I've been playing The Circlet of Nianus but; "
"Seriously?!" I blurted, completely unable to stifle my uncontrollable excitement. "Me too!"
"Yeah?" he said, his eyes brightening. "Have you gotten to the end yet or; "
"Ugh, yes," I groaned. "I've played that battle probably eighty times now."
"It's so fucking frustrating!" he said. "I can't get over the hole in the floor and onto the; "
"; platform, yeah," I finished. "I finally did it. Mashed the fuck out of the controller and didn't get sucked through the floor. Landed and shot Izzon three times."
"And?" he urged, completely entranced.
"The power went out."
Ashton's face fell. "No."
"Yep."
"Mid-game?"
"I cried."
"Shit," he said. "I would've, too."
, Ash."
The startled shock on his face was almost worth falling for his taunts and picking Wario Stadium instead of something like Toad Harbor.
Almost.
I was ahead of him for most of the race. Halfway through the final lap, I heard Ashton curse as he hit one of the flame wheels.
"Hope you're wearing nice boxers," I teased, though I shut up fairly quickly when lightning struck in-game and shrunk me while I was mid-jump, sending me plummeting into a mud puddle.
I was holding down the gas as hard as I could when the jingling sound of an Item Box rang from Ashton's Switch. Seconds later, he let out a celebratory cry.
"Hope you're wearing nice panties," he shot back.
"What?"
But I didn't need to ask, and he didn't need to answer. The dreaded beeping alarm sound started and I looked at the screen in horror.
"No, no, no no no," I wailed as the blue shell appeared above me and hurtled down.
Ashton laughed so hard that I hoped it would be enough to stop him from getting to first, but it wasn't. By the time I recovered, most of the racers had passed me. I didn't give in; I still tried to catch up, hoping I'd maybe hit a box and get Bullet Bill or maybe a Blooper or a Super Star or something.
I did manage to hit an Item Box, but there was a banana peel behind it, and by the time my car recovered, Ashton had crossed the finish line in first place.
"Yes!" he shouted, pumping a fist in the air as I slowly finished my final lap.
"Damn," I muttered.
My heart was racing again, though for a very different reason this time. It had been a whirlwind of a situation and my mind was still trying to catch up with how I'd ended up in my car in the middle of a thunderstorm with a shirtless Ashton. I was excited and scared, nervous and exhilarated. Part of me was dreading taking my clothes off; another part of me wanted to tell Ashton
To be continued in part 2, Based on a post, by MsCherylTerra for Literotica.